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When we got married, my husband and I worked out a pact: I’ll eat more red meat and he’ll eat vegetarian once a week. In fact, he almost agreed to a weekly vegan meal until he realized that meant no cheese. The rules are clear — by vegetarian, I do not mean fettuccini alfredo or mac’n’cheese but meals centered on vegetables. Potatoes not included.

One of my long-standing favourite vegetarian meals is a curried lentil tofu soup. A yoga teacher gave me this recipe to fuel me through an intense detox workshop. I later simplified it for those nights when I rush home from yoga at 8 p.m. It’s perfect for midweek dinners in the middle of winter: fast, easy, filling and hot.

It’s even boy approved, albeit with the caveat that he’d replace the tofu with shrimp or chorizo sausage — which rather defeats the purpose.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 carrot, thinly sliced

1 small white onion

1.5 cups of halved cherry tomatoes

1 can lentil soup

2-4 tablespoons curry paste

Optional: one-half package of Silver King Tofu (I like the seaweed variety the best)

several handfuls of spinach

In soup pot, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and carrots until soft. Then, mix in two tablespoons of the curry paste and tomatoes until it turns “saucy.” Sometimes, I’ll pan sear the tofu in cubes at this point.

Add the soup, bring it to a boil. Stir in spinach and tofu, pan-seared or raw and crumbled, as well as any additional curry paste to get it to desired spiciness. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve with hot pita or naan breads, and thick yogurt.

(Yes, I suppose it would work very well with chorizo sausage if that’s the way you roll.)

Chris and Michelle – Love the blog (was introduced to it and you through Nadine Jolie blogging class). Made this soup and it was fabulous. Mine was a bit more like stew than yours – could have been difference in base lentil soup. Delicious on a cold evening. Even liked the tofu and can’t believe I’m saying that. Check out my new blog, though you two hardly need encouragement to cook or tips on how to start cooking. Going to do your chocolate bark too, even though holiday season is past.